When food and drinks are purchased for carryout, the food is usually packaged in a paper bag and the drinks cups are delivered separately. As experience often teaches the hard way, it is difficult to carry a drink cup safely in a bag; it is better to carry the drink separately. The problem is, of course, that the drink cup is unstable. It flares outwardly above a relatively small base and has a high center of gravity due to the liquid in it. The problem is compounded by the facts that the bottom of the bag is not rigid and so permits the cup to tip; and the cup tends to drip moisture on the bottom of the bag and thereby weaken it. Because of these factors, a drink cup being carried inside a bag often seems determined to tip over. Sometimes a separate carrier of cardboard or molded pulp is provided by the food seller to hold drink cups separately, but so far as I am aware nothing has previously been available which enables a drink cup to be carried safely in an ordinary paper bag. The difficulty of carrying drink cups in a bag, or even separately, is such a nuisance as sometimes to deter one from ordering a drink along with a food purchase, particularly if car travel is involved.
There has, therefore, been a strong need for a structure which will permit one to carry one or more drink cups in a bag without tipping over, without weakening the bag from condensation or spillage, and without squeezing the cup to such an extent that the drink is displaced or the lid of the cup is popped off.
Realistically, the economics of the fast food industry are such that any structure for carrying a drink cup must be sufficiently inexpensive that it does not unduly cut into the profit on the drink. It also must be collapsible so that it can be stored in large numbers without large storage space requirements; and it must be easily and quickly openable or erectable in a bag, with one hand.
The industry has trended away from the concept of providing bags specially made for carrying drinks. In order to be practical, a drink carrier should be insertable, when needed, into a conventional bag of the type used for carrying out food, and should permit a drink to be carried alone or with food in the same bag, so as not to require two separate bags, or different types of bags, for carrying food and drink separately.